


Scowling Persuasion

by Missy



Category: Psych
Genre: Cats, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Partners to Lovers, Psychological Trauma, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 13:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4480805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missy/pseuds/Missy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The key was cats.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scowling Persuasion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [damalur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/damalur/gifts).



> This is set sometime after the Yin/Yang arc, in an AU where Juliet and Shawn never get together.

The key was cats.

Lassiter decided this with the firmness of a martinet on his morning orders. The cats had a calming effect on women of all sort; they would surely soothe Juliet’s wounded and jangled psyche with their unknowing ease, their officious but attention seeking air. Her own animals had been given to a shelter when she switched apartments and he knew it grieved her, deep down, to be petless - or so he gathered from their interaction during their strictly-business-only-and-not-a-social-call dinner at her condominium the other night. Since personal effects at work are a bit of a no-no he forced himself to go over Chief Vick's head, drove to the pound and, with the unwitting aid of Spencer and Guster, found several cuddly subjects who could easily be adopted out once Juliet’s mind had been healed by their presence. That done, he ‘arrange’ some off-time for his partner and cloistered her in his office with over half a dozen purring felines.

Juliet’s reaction was not kind. In fact she started pounding on the door the second he locked her away.

“Do you feel better?” he shouted through the crack in the doorjam when she called back in confusion. “If you’d rather someone brought in a therapy dog there’s a man in forensics who has a fine schipperke.” 

“Carlton! I’m fine,” she yelled. “Just let me out of here.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that until you’ve found a level of comfort and solitude that will allow you to complete the Gormann case without...splashing emotion everywhere.”

And in the end he was proud of her. Juliet, bless her heart, managed to extricate herself without a bit of help from Lassiter. And a lot of help from her Swiss Army Knife and self-defense training. 

He knew she’d do it.

The door, however, hadn’t seen it coming.

 

 

&&&&&&&&&

 

 

Coffee. If Lassiter knew anything about Juliet it was that she couldn’t live without her morning joe, black and straight from the filter. He fussed over the cup before he brought it to her, making sure it was the right temperature and the right blend of beans, and Carlton handed it to her knowing it would be easy to get her to focus over a semi-friendly cup of caffeine.

And if he brought several cases of gruesome autopsy photos to sort while they shot the breeze then he was only trying to kickstart her instincts back into gear.

Juliet cringed as they organized the photos, though she did seem particularly interested by several of the finer points connected to the Del Vista Garfield slaying case. She even made a joke about there being nun better case, and Carlton furrowed his brow at her and ordered another cup of coffee for himself. But when she didn't respond to the brew, he resorted to the only method he figured would wake her up.

She stared as he opened his phone and called up a video. "Since when do you carry around cat videos?" she asked.

"Since I realized relaxation is good for the cardiovascular system," said Lassiter. Then he paused and said, "oh look, it's riding around on a Roomba!"

Halfway through the afternoon she abruptly looked up from the phone and met his eyes. Her confusion was apparent.

“We’re having a good time.”

“Yes, O’Hara. It’s called camaraderie,” he said, quite officiously, his voice filled with sonorous self-importance.

“Maybe,” she adds, “but are we sure that this is just a little social thing or…”

“Or what?”

“Or …Is this a date, Carlton?” her face scrunched up in confusion – heaven help him, she always looked adorable when she made that face.

“During work hours? Heavens no. If you want my hand it will have to be strictly off the clock,” he said.

She frowned and turned off the phone, then flipped a page. “You start looking for clown shoe prints, I’ll keep an eye out for holy water stains.”

It was a nice enough way to begin, he supposed.

 

 

&&&&&&&&&

 

 

Things were looking up – for everyone but the perp whom Juliet had tackled with a flying cross body block that afternoon. Clearly it was time to progress to something more advanced. A movie would keep her relaxed and focused; a lovely crime drama with plenty of violence and a car chase that seemed designed for debate.

Which was sold out. In fact, the only thing that wasn't sold out was Grumpy Cat: The Movie. When she saw the tickets clutched in his hand she started laughing, that wonderful clarion-call laugh of hers that nevertheless left him glaring. Juliet had arrived in a track suit with money for popcorn and, recovering from her laughing fit, she decided to comment on his wardrobe.

“A seersucker suit for a movie?” she asked.

“I thought I’d provide a smidge of class for the evening’s entertainment.”

They’d need that smidge of class when an usher turned up dead and somehow Spencer showed up to 'help'. Juliet was together and brilliant; she didn’t even wince at the manner of death – a hanging from the balcony, sharp and cruel. Two hours later they were together next to Woody’s autopsy table as he ate a rare roast beef and pointed out that the ligature marks on the neck of their vic didn’t match up with a hanging death. They were on the case now, and together (though he was sure Spencer was somewhere in the background, screwing things up just out of earshot.)

He only noticed her expression change, sharpen, once – when she held the rope that had bound the vic to his final perch. He didn’t ask any questions, but could see that she was starting to open up to him, to trust him as much as he trusted her.

 

 

&&&&&&&&&

 

 

He’d been polishing his gun when she entered his office, still dressed up in her sensible suit and heels. “Carlton? Can we talk?”

“Do we have any differences?” he wondered from his desk chair. “If we do, I’d rather settle things with a spirited kickboxing game.”

She closed the door behind her. “It’s about Yang.”

“Oh,” he said. The gun was returned to its previous place on his desk. “What do you have to say?”

She folded her hands against the desk. “I know I haven’t been the best partner lately. I promise that I’m going to get better at dealing with what happened. It’s going to take awhile, but I'll get there, and I wanted to thank you for being so patient." She started pacing. "My plan is to take a month off. With a little therapy, I should be better. I’ve got a month coming to me, but I don't think I’ll need that much time.”

She was trying to impress him, even now. That she’d even admitted there was a problem was enough for Carlton. That she wanted to fix it herself, though, felt unacceptable. “I’ll help you. I'll be as much as a partner to you as i was on that weird date we had.”

“Are we 'weirdly' dating?” Juliet asked. “Or is this something more?”

Carlton raised his shoulders. “Ladies’ choice,” he replied. 

She grinned that wonderful, impish Juliet grin at him. Her hands found his on the gun and peeled them gently from the butt. Then she grabbed him by his holster and pulled him close…

 

 

&&&&&&&&&

 

 

Well, who knew that kissing would have such an effect on the girl? He was almost shocked, in the best of ways. He wished he’d started here instead of the kittens.

And he didn't even have to dress up like a cat to do it.

**Author's Note:**

> I had to do a little fancy footwork to figure out what happened to Jules' cats: one minute they're canonical, the next she's living with a guy and she's catless. But I figured that Carlton would be a cat guy.


End file.
